Out of sheer friendly curiosity, have you considered releasing versions that only test current individual content that just leaves off certain parts of it to give people something to play with? Or is it a hype thing, and people should get a full experience as their first (new) experience? Obviously it would leave off certain upgrades, such as items dropped by bosses (Whether existent or not) that let you craft certain items.)
Even without any bosses, town NPCs, terrain, special events, or new biomes, just having the full array of content that's already virtually complete is
pretty darn amazing. Taking the following from post #191, ...
Weapons: 99%
Abilities/Powerups: 99%
Armor: 99%
Enemies: 50%-ish
Bosses: 80%
World Generation: 25%
Town NPC: 50%
Even if just the first three were included as-is in an alpha release, with a note that many things isn't complete would be dandy to tide people over. The mod features the sort of "Quality" and attention to detail that only Calamity or Thorium can match if you equate quantity with quality.
Or, going deeper with it on a philosophical level, is there a concern that if you have a "release" there might be a dip in further motivation to finish it? I could appreciate that too. "Hunger is the greatest sauce" after all.
It's just really nice to see so many people vying for a release of some sort. Popularity sucks, huh.
Please let us know if it's possible the public can help out somehow. It's a whole 'nother can of worms, but you never know.